


Ever After

by kittydesade



Category: Belgariad/Malloreon Series - David & Leigh Eddings
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-25
Updated: 2011-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-28 03:17:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kittydesade/pseuds/kittydesade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stories only end in stories; there is always something after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ever After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hilandmum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hilandmum/gifts).



The only problem with this particular kitten, Zakath decided, was that he had the disquieting and often painful tendency of kneading one's lap with his claws. He could tolerate it for a little while but eventually one talon dug its way through his trousers and into his leg and that was the end of that.

"Something..." Cyradis poked her head into his office, laughed when she realized what was going on. The kitten sat in one corner of the room and washed itself pointedly at Zakath in revenge for being evicted from the lap. "I see."

"Is there some way to, perhaps, coat his claws in wax? Wrap his paws in swaddling cloth, something that will keep him from sticking me with those things?" Zakath directed a sullen look at the kitten, who immediately ignored him.

"I believe you're doomed to suffer the perils of cat friendship," Cyradis told him, coming in and taking a chair in front of him. "Is he distracting you?"

The Emperor sighed. "No more than I want to be distracted. I keep saying it, and yet it never becomes any less true..." He waited for Cyradis to point out that a thing could be true or not true but rarely were there degrees or truth. She didn't, and he was only a little surprised. The Seeress had settled in to life in Mal Zeth and her role as wife to the Overlord of Angarak better than he had expected. When he thought about it, he suspected the advance warning had something to do with her equanimity.

She gestured for him to go on. "You keep saying...?"

"Well, this Overlord of Angarak business... I keep thinking, if I had known in advance how much work this was going to be, I don't think I would have gone into Murgo territory at all, let alone gone after Imperial Godhood." Or whatever it had been. "Belgarion told me to delegate some of my responsibilities, and I have been, but finding suitable people to handle that has been trickier than I thought."

"Mm," Cyradis shook her head, ordering her thoughts into a less formal mode of speech. She was diligent about practicing that, even in private, especially after a few dignitaries and nobles had come to Zakath about how uncomfortable it made them feel. "They see you and they hear the others call you Overlord of Angarak, and they have other ideas as to what your ambitions should be?"

"I don't think Er-- Eriond would approve of me trying to become Overlord of the whole world," he commented dryly.

Cyradis reached out, took her husband's hand and wrapped it in both of hers. "Rebuilding is always a difficult thing. Beginnings are delicate, we must lay down the foundation upon which our dreams are to be constructed. If we go too quickly and do a slipshod job..."

"The whole thing will collapse and we will all perish in fire and kittens, I know." Zakath's smile was crooked and tired, but warm. "There's no need to beat me with elaborate metaphors, my dear. I remember."

"Good." She stood and leaned over, kissed his cheek. "Then please do remember that you also need to sleep sometime tonight."

Zakath looked over at the kitten. "I think that wasn't a suggestion."

The kitten stared back at him, plainly calling him an idiot in some language Zakath didn't understand.

"Right, then."

  


* * *

  


"Kheldar, dear..."

"Mm?" Silk didn't look up, beakish nose buried in commodities papers and eyes darting back and forth over every inch of data.

"Were you planning on coming up for air sometime soon? Or should we have everything magically transported into your body so that you don't need to eat or sleep or any of that." Velvet cocked her head. "We could try to transport your brain into some kind of magical automaton, I'm sure Belgarath would have fun tinkering with that."

"That sounds like an excellent idea," Silk murmured. "Wait, what?"

She laughed at his expression as he realized what she'd actually said. "You've been staring at those papers for an hour or two now. I don't think the price of timber is going to change much between one look and the next. Give it a day. At least."

"I wasn't..."

"You were. Why don't you stop being a merchant and start being a spy again, for a change? With the political situation being what it is, there's sure to be plenty for everyone to do."

Silk leaned back in his chair, a darker sort of gleam coming into his eyes. "I like being rich as well as well-informed," he pointed out. "It lets me live comfortably."

"And spying keeps you feeling alive. You're going cross-eyed over these balance sheets and you're coming over cranky."

"I am not..."

Velvet gave him a _look._

"Maybe just a little."

"More than a little. Come on, let's see if Porenn has anything for us in Mal Zeth."

  


* * *

  


Taiba was trying to walk the length of the bedroom and back, but on swollen feet it was hard to manage, and she resented being made to move at all when she was the size of a horse.

"It's good for you," the midwife told her.

Taiba grumbled. She knew it was, she knew that once the baby or babies were here and this part was over she would be happier, and it would be easier, at least as far as she was concerned. That did not make enduring these many months till the birth any easier.

Relg came into the room, baby son swaddled in against his chest with a hammock wrap and baby girl in his other arm. "Still aching?" he asked, a little trepidatious. Taiba had a tendency to snap when she felt her body wasn't behaving as it was supposed to. There were years when her body hadn't been her own, and now that she had full possession of it she felt it should behave itself.

"Yes." She did snap, but she didn't call him names for stating the obvious. That much, she could manage to keep under control; it wasn't his fault she was constantly in a bad mood. "I'll be glad when this part is over."

"Just don't let the rest of the..." He nodded at the outer caves. Cave-like structures, really; they had compromised for Relg's comfort and Mara's. Taiba hadn't been much concerned one way or the other, as long as their dwellings were warm and safe and had room for their constantly expanding family. "Well, you know."

"I know," Taiba sighed. "And I understand. But they're not us. They don't have to carry this weight." She gestured at her stomach, far too big for a single child, she knew by now. No matter what the midwife said, and she knew why, and it amused her on the days when she wasn't ready to throw something. "They don't have to bear the burden of being the first of a, a race of people." Which was an idea that still felt too big for her mind, now and again.

When she looked up from where her chin had tucked down into her chest Relg was there, switching the baby from one arm to the other and putting that now free arm around her shoulders, their son a little squished between them. He woke up, made a gurgling noise of understanding, and settled back to sleep.

Taiba sighed and looked over at her husband. She understood how much trouble he had with this, too, even standing with her like this must give him still some twinge inside. And she appreciated that he never let on the reflex to pull away from her touch if he could help it, but sometimes she did have to wonder. "Do you think they really do know what they're doing?"

Relg's arm slipped down her back as he straightened up, pulled away a little. Questioning the gods was something as alien to him as the idea of having a god in the first place was to her. She didn't mean to frighten or upset him like that. But from the point of view of aching, sweating, feeling unhappy for many months out of the year, it was hard to see through to the end where things were better and the purpose of it all was much more plain to see.

"I think..." he started to say, when there was a tugging at his pants leg that almost overbalanced him and took her down as well.

The tiny, toddling Gorim blinked wide blue eyes up at his parents, making popping sounds with his mouth before something approximating words came out. "Mama?"

Relg laughed. Taiba smiled, and if she didn't know better she would have suspected someone of tampering, the timing was that perfect.

"Yes," he nodded, hugging her closer to him. "I think they know exactly what they're doing."

  


* * *

  


Eriond looked around at his people and his family, and saw that it was good, and smiled.

Then he found Horse, and went for a run in the fields.


End file.
